1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic flight bag for use on board an aircraft and, more particularly, to an electronic flight bag which includes an electronic storage device configured as a container for storing various user-configurable flight-related objects for all required and desired information for a particular flight, such as flight routes, as defined by way-points, airport information, temporary flight restrictions, and weather information as well as any other user-defined objects associated with a flight or otherwise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various navigational systems are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,775 relates to an electronic flight-planning and information system, which includes a portable computer that in a ground mode of operation is adapted to be connected to a ground-based computer system by way of a communication link, such as a telephone line. In the ground mode, the ground-based computer system generates a number of optimized flight plans along with weather information associated with those flight plans. The optimized flight plans and weather information are subsequently loaded onto an electronic storage device, such as a floppy disk. In a flight mode, the information on the floppy disk is loaded onto the aircraft on-board flight management computer. Although the system disclosed in the '775 patent functions as a navigational aid, the type of information available to a user with such a navigational aid is fixed. In other words, the only type of information that can be loaded onto the on-board flight management computer are the way-points along the planned route, as well as various flight plan data for each leg of the flight plan, including predicted fuel flows, estimated time and route, predicted fuel consumption, distance to be traveled, and forecasted weather. Unfortunately, the system disclosed in the '775 patent does not allow any additional type of information or data objects to be included. For example, temporary flight restrictions, as well as various flight information, such as, runway approach information, are not included as available types of information to the user of the system disclosed in the '775 patent. Accordingly, the pilot using such a navigation system would still need to carry a physical flight bag so that such information would be available aboard the aircraft during a flight.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,827,419; 5,581,462 and 6,134,500 also relate to electronic navigational systems for use aboard an aircraft during flight. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,419 relates to an electronic storage system that enables navigational charts to be printed on demand. Essentially, the electronic storage system, as disclosed in the '419 patent, is a compilation of various predetermined data objects which can be selected and printed on demand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,462 relates to a data cartridge that allows various fixed data objects to be stored in the data cartridge during a ground mode and loaded into the aircraft's main navigational computer for use during flight. The fixed data objects include aircraft mission or task data. In flight, the data cartridge is plugged into the main avionics system. Unfortunately, the pilot that uses such a system will still require a physical flight bag, since various types of information, such as runway approach and other types of information, are not available with the cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,500 discloses an electronic navigational aid for generating a flight plan. This patent, as well as various commercially available software packages, such as various navigational systems available from Jeppesen, such as FliteStar software (www.jeppesen.com), as well as others, facilitate flight plans being generated electronically.
Unfortunately, none of the systems disclosed above can be used to totally eliminate the need for a physical flight bag since none of the systems mentioned above include all of the information required during a flight. Thus, there is a need for a navigational system which emulates an electronic flight bag in which the data objects therein are user-configurable to allow users to include all the information that they may individually require or desire for a flight to obviate the need for a physical flight bag in a paperless cockpit environment.